What are the best practices for facilitating a conference for non-native English speakers?

2 Prepare the content

The second step for facilitating a conference for non-native English speakers is to prepare the content carefully. You should tailor the content to the needs and interests of your audience, and avoid topics that may be too complex, controversial, or culturally sensitive. You should also structure the content logically, and use transitions, summaries, and repetitions to reinforce the main points. Additionally, you should provide the participants with an agenda, a glossary, and a list of references before the conference, so they can familiarize themselves with the content and the terminology.

4 Provide accessibility options

The fourth step for facilitating a conference for non-native English speakers is to provide accessibility options that can enhance their experience. Accessibility options can include subtitles, transcripts, audio descriptions, sign language interpretation, or live chat. These options can help the participants to overcome the language barriers, to access the content in different formats, and to ask questions or share feedback. You should inform the participants about the availability and the features of the accessibility options before the conference, and encourage them to use them as needed.

5 Interact with the audience

The fifth step for facilitating a conference for non-native English speakers is to interact with the audience actively. Interaction can increase the participants' involvement, motivation, and satisfaction. You should use techniques such as polls, quizzes, surveys, games, or breakout sessions to elicit the participants' opinions, preferences, or experiences. You should also invite the participants to ask questions, to comment, or to share their perspectives, and acknowledge and respond to them respectfully. Furthermore, you should use gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact to convey your enthusiasm and rapport.

6 Evaluate the outcomes

The sixth and final step for facilitating a conference for non-native English speakers is to evaluate the outcomes of the conference. Evaluation can help you to measure the impact, the effectiveness, and the quality of the conference, and to identify the strengths and the areas for improvement. You should use methods such as feedback forms, interviews, focus groups, or analytics to collect and analyze the data from the participants, the speakers, and the organizers. You should also use the results to plan, improve, and follow up on future conferences.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?